A Red World
by StormWriter28
Summary: The world is faced with an apocalyptic situation. A new plague has spread, bringing alive the dead. Government and military forces fall. The nations are faced with a difficult and narrow path to take. Not all make it and many lose the will to fight while others desperately push through, intent on surviving. More information inside. WARNING: CHARACTER DEATH Rating may also change.
1. Chapter 1

**So this is my first fanfiction, and it's for Hetalia! I really wanted to write something like this but needed to find a series to write it with. It's was inspired by "The Walking Dead", as given by the use of the term "Walkers". Which for those of you who haven't watched the series yet, is another term for zombies. I used the term solely because I like it better than "zombies". However, I used both terms anyways. At any rate I hope you read the summary clearly because there will be character death. Sorry. I don't have anything against them, I swear. Excuse any grammar errors. I very briefly read over the whole thing so yeah. You should still be able to get the overall gist of it. In this story, the government and military defenses have fallen in the sudden up rise.**

**I don't own Hetalia nor The Walking Dead. They belong to Hidekazu Himaruya (Hetalia), and Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore and Charlie Adlard (The Walking Dead)**

_They_ were everywhere. A mess of mindless moans and grasping fingers and arms which struggled to reach him through the metal rod gate. Panting, Germany scrambled back on all fours until he was a good meter distance away from the gate with shook against it's lock almost threatening to fall open and let them in. The walkers slammed themselves against the metal frame, clawing and screaming gurgled screams as they desperately tried to get in. All the separated him and the other ex-nations from being eaten alive was a simple lock and a metal gate just over a meter and a half in height. Luckily, being mostly dead, they lacked intelligence. It was a safe bet that they wouldn't be able to get over. But the lock itself was another story. If it were to come unlatched, and it very possibly could with all the shoving bodies and writhing hands sticking through the gates, they could only hope to escape with their lives again.

As one of the resurrected dead shoved their head through the metal bars and hissed at him, Germany was snapped from his momentary shock. Forcing his shaking body up before stumbling away to join the group standing a meter away. It had been a close call for all of them. Ex-nations. Funny thing about their entire existence as countries. For as long as a government stands or the people acknowledge themselves as one group, they will be a nation. The personification of them is simply just a representation of who those people are. People nonetheless, they age at the rate of their peoples' development. If the government were to fall and the people to lose their patriotism, while their memories and experiences remained with them, they were human. It was proven a while before in a moment none wished to ever be repeated. Yet sadly it had.

Standing among him were the ex-nations that had made it with him. The others, unfortunately, were either being eaten, dead, among those slamming into the gates, or separated from them but safe. England, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Spain, Southern Italy, Prussia, Belgium and Lithuania. It disturbed Germany in many ways as to how small their group had gotten after they unintentionally stumbled into a swarm of them on the highway. Right after they thought they managed to escape the city, it turned out there was another large group awaiting them outside. Had France not…Germany shook the possibility of what very likely happened to him from his head he notice something else. First of all, it wouldn't be entirely accurate to say France was gone, eaten, gutted, or dead at the moment. He had stayed back to hold them off for a bit with Denmark so that they could get away. No questions asked. If they were to volunteer the gun would be trained on their heads.

"_We'll leave you as a distraction then."_

It was cowardly; Germany couldn't even bring himself to think about why he had just left them. He supposed none of them could. He could only remember turning around and watching one of the resurrected launch itself at the Dane. He nearly tripped then causing his attention to refocus but he could hear, loud and clearly his screams. Although, he knew France from numerous historic events dated in those forgotten history books. The German knew he wouldn't go down easily. Yet, the swarm of those before him…definitely told a different story.

However, that wasn't what had caught his attention. He counted the heads in the group, 9. How many were in their group after leaving the city. 15. Well, nothing compare to what they had before entering that god damn city. 6 were missing, minus France and Denmark. That makes 4…

"_Fuck. Which four?!"_ Germany thought frantically looking through all the faces. _Oh god…_ At the thought of the missing face he almost fainted. It had been hectic ever since they left the city; many fell behind and didn't make it. Though there was hardly any time to count and record the missing faces. They automobiles they arrived in, already running low on gas were swarmed by the group with little room to maneuver around. They had to make it by foot. Yet, he had thought that Italy would at least be near him! He cursed himself for being so selfish and foolish to think such but Italy's own two feet were enough of insurance at the time. Everyone was simply trying to get out intact and alive. All around them were screams and cries of agony as a walkers took down another one of them. It was hard to pinpoint anybody in the chaos. Even so…

Italy's older brother, Romano, seemed to realize just as Germany had.

"Ch-Che cazzo?! You bastards…where the fuck is Veneziano?!" Romano screamed causing uproar in the crowd behind them. It seemed like at that moment everybody finally woke up from the shock they were in only to be thrown into further trauma at the missing faces.

"Potato bastard!"

"Bruder! God thank you!"

"Ah…that many are gone?!"

"I didn't think we lost that many!"

"Sweden! Did you see the others?"

"Poland!"

Everybody started to mutter among themselves, some shouting and looking for someone in blind hope they missed their face the first time. Others curled themselves into a small ball and buried their faces into their knees.

"You fucking bastard. Where is my brother! He was with you wasn't he?! You fucking asshole, asshole, asshole." Romano had abruptly shoved Prussia away from Germany before grabbing him by the collar. The edges of his eyes starting to shine with tears as he drew his fist back while cursing the German. Germany himself was too stunned to even pay attention to what was going on.

"I-I…." I can't believe I lost him myself.

"FUCKING ASSHOLE." Romano swung forward with all his might in one punch straight to the face. Caught off guard, the German reeled over with a surprised grunt. Romano on the other hand was fueled with rage and wasn't satisfied by the small noise, he was looking for blood. Hatred coursed through him, not just for the German but for himself. It was his own brother, his own blood. He knew it was ridiculous to be blaming Germany for losing his own brother when he should've taken charge. He only ran. Like a coward. He ran from a lot of things in life but to have run from his brother. He almost wanted to throw himself into the crowd of hungry walkers. Useless, Romano could only call himself that. Although that didn't stop him from taking out his own anger.

He threw a kick into the keeled over German's stomach and was just about to elbow his head down when he felt a strong pair of hands digging into his shoulders and pulling him back. Prussia was already weak enough after his own country's dissolution. He had spent most of his time after living in Germany's basement, blogging and getting drunk. This recent incident put him in even worse of a condition. In a sense he was living off of his brother. Literally. Germany needed to stay alive and strong enough for the both of them.. Prussia was on his way to recovery though. For the time his country had dissolved into German territory, Prussia felt on edge every moment of the day. Like he couldn't fully disappear yet couldn't return to the way he was before either. Half-human, half immortal, that was truly an awful state to be in. It would've been better to just become human all of a sudden. Sure there was the initial shock but it wasn't agonizingly stretched out like it was for him. That being said, he adjusted quicker than the others who even had difficulty breathing for a while. Prussia felt himself slowly returning to the state before his dissolution. As if it was like for all that time he was simply chained to his brother, all possibilities and roads restricted. The chains that had weakened him were off now. He and his brother would now longer have to be a burden to each other.

"Stop it." Prussia said with an unequivocal voice and expression.

"That ass hole lost my brother! He could be dead! He couldn't have been eaten by those mother fuckers. He could be one of them now. He, he could…"

"You lost your brother. Not west."

"You!" Romano said through gritted teeth turning around abruptly and thrusting his elbow in Prussia's chin and forcing his head back.

"You little shit." Prussia said regaining his balance and planning to go at it with the Italian.

"Enough! Both of you!" Spain ordered, stepping in and restraining the furious Romano.

"BASTARD LOST MY BROTHER!" Romano struggled against Spain's vice grip but with no avail.

"YOU GET IT STRAIGHT! MY BROTHER DIDN'T DO ANYTHING! HE'S YOUR BROTHER! YOUR BLOOD! BLOOD IS THICKER THAN WATER, EVER HEARD THAT SAYING YOU USELESS SHIT. YOU RAN AWAY." Prussia exclaimed pointing the guilty finger at Romano's direction.

"Prussia that's enough!" Spain screamed while pulling Romano hard against his chest, effectively cutting him off from retorting. His face took on a demanding demeanor, twitching with anger, his eyes flaring with ferocity. His grip around Romano tightened subconsciously as his own anger at the two appeared to be rising. Flames would've shot out from his eyes had that been possible.

"Both of you shut the fuck up now. You're only aggravating those walkers more." He said jutting an elbow behind Prussia.

Spain wasn't as oblivious as people made him out to be. After all at one point he was a fierce conquistador who blindly took down tribes and expanded his territory far into the "new world" centuries ago. Even if he understood things, if he didn't see the difference he'd make, he simply stood at the sidelines, watching them play out before him. Sometimes it was to tease Romano other times he saw no point of having to take a position. Sure, he'd admit that while he could be a tad bit slow in the uptake at times, that didn't make him stupid. In the situation they were in now though, Spain wasn't going to stand back or pretend to not know what was going on for the sake of staying out of it. It was no longer the business of him and those close to him that he had to attend too. Seeing those nations die before him was enough to shake him out of that world.

"Now, we're at Germany's house. I guess the city didn't hold the promises the radio announced it would. So we're all going to make due with what we have. That gate doesn't appear to be holding up to well so let's get in and secure the house."

"Bastardo…" Romano said glaring at the ground before him.

"What." Spain almost spat it him, his voice practically drowned in annoyance.

"My brother. What about my brother!" Romano said, turning his head around to look at Spain as best as he could.

"He was probably taken…by them."

Silence. Everybody was silent, the only noise coming from the raging zombies behind the fence.

"Spain…" Belgium whispered calmly while placing a gentle hand on his shoulder, telling him subtly to back off. Belgium had never seen, even with all her years under his roof, Spain treat Romano with such coldness. Romano felt every bit of that unknown coldness from his former boss, felt it stab into him like shards of glass. While Spain himself, realized that what he said came out much colder than intended.

"Good job."

"Oh, shut up eyebrows! Roma, I didn't mean it like that. I just. I don't know." Spain stumbled over apologies as his anger burnt itself out. Another reason Spain never liked getting heated up in an argument. He could never understand why he did what he did. As if all there was behind each action was cruelty and animosity. Wouldn't it be better just to reject the understanding and pretend not to know? Hold back his emotions with a smile. Just smile. That's all that matters in such a twisted world.

"Fuck you too." Romano just murmured in such a hurt voice. Spain released his hold and let Romano punch him in the face. At that moment the gate began to shake and from their short distance away they could see the latch starting to shake itself unloose. It was a simply one, where all you had to do was bring it down into a metal jut to close the gate. It was small and hardly offered much protection but if Germany had known the world would spiral into hell he would've upgraded it long ago.

"I'm fine bruder. Guys we have to go now." Germany ordered while straightening himself and putting on an instructing demeanor.

"Head into the house there is a tool kit lying in the small closet next to the washroom. Hammer and nails, two of you guys go get it. Another four of you take there are some boards in the basement next to Prussia's bed from when we renovated his room. Take them and start boarding up the windows and doors. The other two of you help with that. Prussia help them and go look for other boards as well, we need as much as we can get."

"What about you?" England asked as they entered the house. Closing the door Germany seemed to hesitate before answering.

"Guns and weaponry."

"Figures."

"Well it's going to help save our asses in an emergency so I think we should be glad Germany has a stash of those." Lithuania said while hurrying downstairs after Prussia.

The entire team set to work including Spain, although all he really wanted to do was go look for Romano. Romano had separated himself immediately from the rest of the group upon entering the house and the others figured it'd probably be best to leave him along for now.

"There'd be time for that later. Right now if we don't secure this house we're all in deep shit. Let's focus on that shall we?" Finland said causing Spain to look over in amazement that the Finnish man had said exactly what he wanted to do.

"Everybody!" Germany called out, coming down stairs and disposing a pile of gunnery as well as an ax the coffee table. "Get the front windows first! I've locked the back door and front door so do those last. Prussia, we're going to need more boards. You look downstairs; I'm going to the attic."

Romano could hear the German's booming voice from upstairs in the washroom.

"Ugh…this entire place smells like German." Romano said scrunching up his nose. Perhaps he should help, yet he couldn't will himself to face everybody after what had just happened.

_Cowering out again? You just never learn do you._His inner voice taunted him.

"Shut up." Romano said to no one particular as he stood up and began to walk out. That was when he heard the screams from downstairs.

"AH FUCK GUYS THEY BROKE THROUGH THE FENCE!"

"That's not good, dah?"

"Shit!"

"Front windows are good! Thank god Germany doesn't have large windows."

"I found more boards!" Prussia said coming up. "Back windows now! One of you go board up the smaller basement windows! West!" Prussia called for his brother. After no response, he tried again.

"West! Yo, bruder! Can you hear me?" Prussia hollered again moving closer to the stairs. "Guys. Back windows. Now." He said redirecting his attention momentarily before starting to climb the stairs. That was when he heard the gun shot. Everybody froze momentarily but that didn't stop the pounding by the zombies from outside.

"GO. NOW!" Prussia ordered breaking the daze everybody was in.

Romano jumped at the sound of that gun shot as he ran out of the washroom and into one of the rooms at the front of the house.

"No way! Those walking dead bastards broke through?" He said in awe as he heard more gun firing coming from the back end of the house.

"What's going on?" Germany exclaimed climbing down the ladder holding a few wooden planks between his elbow the side of his chest so that they were vertical. Jumping down from the last few steps and landing with a thud.

"T-they broke through."

"What?" Germany said racing down the stairs with the boards shouting more orders along the way. Romano however, couldn't move. He felt like he was glue to the spot and all he could do was watch then swarm around the house. In his mind, they were already screwed. Might as well save the effort, we're all going to be eaten anyways.

_Today, the world ends._

There was no way out of this.

At the back of his mind Romano could register a voice calling his name, but he ignored it. That is until he picked up something else along with it. _Veneziano…_ What?

"Romano! Come, I think…I think it's Italy, Austria, Hungary, Poland and Norway!"

"Romano! It's Veneziano!"

_Impossible. _Was all the ex-personification of Southern Italy could think.

**Meanwhile in North America**

The lights had been turned off in the room, the windows and doors boarded up and drawn over with curtains. All that dimly illuminated the area was a small hand flashlight and a few candles placed on the coffee table. The flashlight began to flicker in the user's hand as his bent over figure desperately fiddled with switching and tuners, trying to get through. At the moment any noise other than the faint buzz would be enough.

_Just give me something. Anything that would prove this piece of trash not useless, anything. _

"Ah, still no connection bro? Haha, don't worry, the hero will come save the day!" America laughed in a flippant manner causing Canada to jump and look up. America as usual, appeared incredibly unfazed by the situation. He had a burger in one hand and a drink in the other.

"I've played tons of zombie killing games. I can handle this shit. Don't worry." America said waving it off.

"America." Canada began glaring at his old neighbour. "Don't you realize the severity of the situation! This isn't a game. There isn't a respawn or anything!" Canada raising his voice got America's attention.

"I-I think we're just Alfred and Matthew now. There isn't any hero, or savior. It's over."

"What are you trying to say? I'm America, the hero! Blue, red and white. Colors of the hero!" America exclaimed trying his best not to acknowledge the truth. Canada was right. Their governments fell and the entire world was a mess, but America didn't want to accept that.

**AND THERE WE GO! In the next chapter we'll cover what happened within the last 10 hours. Any warnings will be given at the start because I never plan out the details before writing them...In other words I just got the main idea, but may add more. Please review! And maybe fav? I know it seemed a bit OOC but I mean, the world's ending for them. :S**

**~SummerAnima**


	2. Chapter 2: The last 48 hours

**Sorry for being tardy and updating so late. I promise you that I'll get the next one in quicker. Promise. This ended up being really long so I cut the flashback. It'll be wrapped up within the next chapter. **

**To my beloved guest, who doesn't have a username so I can't exactly refer to you directly, but if you're reading this then I guess you'll know. I'll try my best to squeeze them in! Somewhere…probably next chapter. However, I only have a general idea of their personalities so if they appear extremely out of character, well then you know. If they do make an appearance I can't guarantee them a huge roll or anything.(Sorry .!) **

**Fang1rlc0mplex, that you so much. At first I thought this would be another dead story where it wouldn't get enough reads. However your review just motivated me to keep this story going! **

**Updates will probably come faster in the future….Also I lied…Instead of the last 10 hours I'm going to make this the 48 hours….Hope you enjoy! Oh yeah. Lot's of profanity on Romano's behalf. That's all though. Oh yeah and this chapter is focused on the Italy brothers.  
**

The disease had caught all of the Nations by surprise. All of a sudden whole cities were overrun by thousands of them with few to none of the residents escaping. Get bitten or even scratched and you're out for the game. For the next few days, if you're lucky enough to last that long, your body will be hit by a severe fever. It'll be the fever that kills you for sure. That's not the end. Afterwards, the brain will awake again, but only the primitive senses. In essence you'll become an instinctive monster seeking the flesh of those who were once your kind. The American government said they got it under control and sent the military out to contain it. While it was easy to pick off a couple on your own, the huge crowds simply outnumbered the military personnel. Unlike humans, the resurrected could only be stopped with a damaging blow to the brain.

The government lost. Many fell within the first day of outbreak. Those who did remain strong directed all forces to protecting research facilities looking for a cure. Radio announcements were sent out on every channel telling any of the remaining public where to go and how to respond. Even those stopped broadcasting after the first half day. Leaving all those that remained clinging to luck.

**The last 48 hours… **

**_For Romano, nothing ever happened on Fridays. _**

The sirens blared in the distance causing Italy to jump out of his seat during the middle of his county's conference. One moment he was listening to the Prime Minister announce what actions their Nation was going to take and the next minute everybody was pressed against the large window panes trying to get a glance at what was going on. Sighing, Italy began to cower into the far corner. He knew he shouldn't have come to the meeting. What were they going to do if he didn't come anyways? At the very least he should've tried harder to convince his fratello to come along with him. What was he thinking at the time? There was no safety in this world!

* * *

That morning Romano was unusually stressed out. So much to the point the young Italian was out of bed and nervously pacing the room at an early 6:30 in the morning. He had gone down stairs, gotten a glass of water and the walked back up. As soon as he lay down though, his hand began to twitch. At first Romano had ignored it. Sometimes his Chorea would act up, showing itself with small twitches in the finger tips. This happened usually when Romano was stressed out. Taking a few deep breathes, Southern Italy managed to calm his nerves but it didn't stop the twitch. In fact, if anything, the twitch had grown, spreading through his right hand until it looked as if he was playing some unheard tune. He might've cussed a few times and tried to hold his hand still but nothing seemed to help. Soon his feet began to turn and twist along with his hands, putting him in an awkward position. Something was wrong, Romano by now could sense so very clearly. It proved right when the phone call came in at 7:30. It had been a huge ordeal trying to get the phone himself, almost embarrassingly so. At long last the frustrated Italian managed to hit the speaker button before the call was directed to the voice mail. Almost immediately though, Romano regretted doing so and wished he had just let the call ring through. It was his boss. Great. Just, absol-fucking-lutely great.

Now, it wasn't that Romano was a slacker. Well, maybe a little as proven by his younger days. However, if he were to focus on the task Romano could pull through just as well. That being said, the fiery southern personification of Italy wasn't known for attending most of the meetings. While he was technically supposed to show up with his other half, that infamous inferiority complex of his often prevented him from doing so. It took great persistence from his younger brother just to get him to go on a brotherly outing. At any rate, Romano usually had Veneziano pick up his paper work from his boss, who clearly didn't have it very well for him because of all the ignored calls and missed meetings. It was like circular reasoning. Romano doesn't go to meetings because his boss has it out for him because Romano doesn't go to meetings. Also: Romano never picks up his bosses calls because his boss would be hell pissed right away because Romano never picks up his bosses calls.

"Romano!" Oh, that tone wasn't very friendly. Actually, it was perhaps the very opposite. Wincing Romano considered the consequences of hanging up. The bright side of all this was that in the midst of his bosses fiery, his nervousness disappeared.

"Romano, are you there?" Wow, his boss sounded frantic as well. What was the hurry? It was another Friday as per usual. For Romano, nothing ever happened on Fridays.

"Yeah." He replied, trying his best not to sound annoyed for having to be awake so early in the morning due to some mindless stressing over nothing. His boss absolutely hated it when Romano had the 'What the fuck do you want you bastard. I'm fucking tired so go fucking fuck yourself.' Type of tone because apparently it was 'Informal and irritating.' Also, if he was so tired he should've just gone to bed earlier. 'It isn't like you do much work anyways.' Ouch...

"Thank goodness. Is your brother with you?" Oh, this was about my brother. As usual I guess.

"No. Why don't you call him instead."

"I've tried, he didn't pick up. Romano, do you have the slightest clue of what is going on right now because you sound like you've just woken up."

_Oh really? Wow, you're one smart ass. _Romano thought with great sarcasm.

"No, no I don't."

"Do you have a television?"

_No, I don't have that either because I live in a cardboard box. Of course I have a television. I never use it, much like this phone. _

"Yes, I do."

"I'm assuming you never use it, but I need you to catch up on what's happening. Any channel will do, we're broadcasting it everywhere. There's no time to explain. Keep a radio with you for updates, I need you here at the parliament."

"W-wait!" Romano interrupted sensing the end of conversation drawing near. He wasn't getting any of it. Why was he called this early to check on the news and head over to the government buildings? Rubbing his temple his took a deep breath before being cut off by his boss.

"No time to explain. If you can get in contact with your brother, tell him to come with you. I suspect he lost his cellphone again. Hopefully he lost his cellphone. The northern part…There's time for that later."

"Hold on! What the hell happened to the northern section of Italy?" Romano exclaimed, worry and frustration building up again. That was his brother, it didn't matter which way you turned it. His brother was his own blood and even if he could be annoying and frustrating at times, Romano care more than anything for him.

"Later."

"Don't fucking 'later' me! I need answers. What the fuck is going on?"

All that answered Romano was the beeping that signaled the call was dropped.

Cussing, Romano began to dial him back checking the post it sticker that had his bosses number written on it. That post-it had been stuck on the wall beneath the overhanging cabinet and next to the phone for such a long time. Romano never thought he'd actually dial the numbers but here he was. However, he was once again interrupted by the ringing of his doorbell.

"Fucking…" He swore out loud then hung up before storming to the door. The doorbell rang being abused within that time.

"Coming! I'm coming!" He hollered out jogging to the door and swinging it open. There stood his younger brother, with an expression of both shock and relief.

"What the hell happened to you?" He said, pulling his brother in and looking around outside before stepping in himself. It was a habit he had developed after an incident where that tomato bastard had stormed into his house completely uninvited and drunk. Then, just as Romano was closing the door, it had swung open again and those two other drunkies from the trio followed him in, leaving Romano with a fair sized bump on the back of his head.

Italy simply held up a finger, his hands on his knees, signalling for a moments reprieve to gather himself together. That moment passed by quick and suddenly, Romano found himself being tackled to the ground.

"Ahhh~ Fratello! I'm so glad you're okay! Luckily they hadn't gotten down here yet. We might have a few hours left but we have to hurry."

"Hold up. Who are 'they'? Plus, our boss needs us to meet at the parliament building. I'm not going, so you can take my place. Also, what's happening on the news that's so urgent?"

"Veh~ You don't know? I happened so quickly. America-chan said he had it under control but I guess he didn't."

"That doesn't answer shit! What the hell could be happening this early in the morning?" Romano screamed with impatience. This stunned Italy for a brief moment. Sometimes how Romano isolated himself proved troublesome as he was often not up to date with worldly events. However, there was no time to explain and help him deal with the shock. _They _were progressing quickly, spreading the plague. Virus. Whatever you wanted to call it. At any rate it wasn't good.

"Turn on the television. The power seems fine in these areas."

"What the fuck are you saying Veneziano?"

"Please, fratello." Italy begged with such a hopeless expression, Romano could only obey.

Walking back into the living room, where sat the large flat screen TV he never bothered using. The remote lay untouched and gathering dust on the coffee table. Picking it up, Romano turned on the television just a little curious as to what crucial situation the world was facing today. On the bright side, he didn't even have to search for the channel. It was as his boss said, every channel was broadcasting.

Rolling over on the top of the screen in white letters against a red background were the words: THIS IS AN EMERGENCY NATIONAL EVACUATION.

Below the banner was an aerial view of what looked like a mob of people evading a city taken from a helicopter. In a box below it stated the city. Terni. That was quite a distance from their capital still, but what's with this mob? At that moment, the camera zoomed in and Romano came to the horrid realization that those people weren't exactly…normal. Moving closer to the television, Romano saw the decaying flesh and bodies crawling and sauntering through the city. The camera momentarily shifted to another part of the scene, where the Italian military had been sent to hold off the invasion. While it really looked like the army was giving their all into stopping the mob, they were simply out numbered. Someone's hand flashed in front of the camera, as if pointing out some part in the chaos. Romano could just pick up their voices, muffled by the whirling sound of the helicopter.

"What the hell is going on down there? Why isn't the army progressing?"

"There! There! Over there! Zoom in!"

As commanded the camera began to zoom closer into the front line of defense. The remote slipped out of Roma's hand yet he made no move to retrieve it. He simply could not believe what they were broadcasting. The soldiers...no way! How was this even possible? Surely this is some awful nightmare. The dead don't simply awaken and then take over Italy, devouring everything with flesh in their path.

"Wake up." Romano said smacking the side of his head, almost hoping for his eyes to snap open and find himself lying in bed. The clock would say 12pm and Romano would cuss for missing breakfast. He'd probably go make himself a tomato omelet anyway and pour some orange juice. Then he'll go outside and eat in the sun while enjoying the serene weather. Maybe he'd play on his cell for a bit before retiring before his laptop. Surf the internet for a bit while eating tomatoes. It'd be another Friday where he wouldn't be dealing with this shit, dammit.

"Wake up, wake up, wake up." Romano began again, shaking his head frantically as he backed away from the television.

"I want this to be a dream too."

Romano jumped at the trembling voice of his brother who ran over dropping his bag on the way and bring him into a tight hug.

"I want it to be a dream. I want to wake up and hopefully this'll be a nightmare. I want to cook pasta and say hello to the neighbours. I want to sail down the rivers of Venice again and come to visit you without having to watch my back. Then I want to go visit Ger-" Italy cut himself there knowing it probably wouldn't help the situation if Romano were to go into a tirade about avoiding potato bastards. Luckily though, Romano still seemed too shocked to react to anything. Slowly, almost cautiously, he brought his arms up and embraced his brother back. The moment didn't last long and was interrupted by the ringing of the doorbell. Breaking apart from the hug, Romano headed towards the door and peered through the peep hole, almost curious as to who else would ring the doorbell at a time like this.

Government agents. Of course. What the hell are they thinking? Then it hit him, the meeting. Well fuck that shit. After seeing what was happening on TV, did they really expect them to just head along to the meeting.

_"Oh, well isn't it a wonderful day to get eaten?" _Romano thought the last part with fury as he threw open the door, scowling at the two men, cloaked in black.

"Mister Southern Italy. We were sent to guarantee your arrival at the crucial meeting you should've heard about right? The Prime Minister himself called you."

"Yeah I got the message and look my brother is here as well. Sadly the world is ending and we aren't interested in what you bastardos have to say." South Italy said gesturing for them to leave but when they didn't he began to close the door.

"This is an urgent matter. We hope you understand that much."

_"What the hell is that supposed to mean? The fact that your heads are still up your asses and believing we'd come is an urgent matter." _Romano almost spat out. The two men must've noticed his worried and frustration behind there black glasses as they began to take a different approach on the matter.

"Look we're sorry for disturbing you and we know you must be as nervous and terrified as we all are. But let's get this straight. Italy, the nation you represent, is under attack. We need to discuss this evacuation plan and figure out what we are supposed to do. As representatives, your opinion matters just as much. You can have a few minutes to pack belongings, but we really must hurry."

"Look, let's get _this_ straight." Romano retorted with a mocking tone. "We're not coming. Figure this one out yourselves. Our opinions won't make much of a difference now."

The two men started to seem pretty ticked off by his attitude, but that didn't faze the personification of southern Italy one bit. After all, he worked with the mafia…heh. Wonder what's happening to them at this moment?

"Veh~ Fratello. Maybe we should go." Italy began. Romano swirled around and glared at his younger sibling.

"What are you say? You came here from up North right? You were there for some errands, you told me! You saw what was going on and you want to head back? Their starting to take over Terni. Who knows where else they've gotten to."

"You should listen to your brother." One of the men tried joining in, taking the chance to convince the more stubborn one to come along.

"You can go screw each other for all I care. I. Am. Not. Coming." Romano said putting his foot down.

"Fratello~ Think about it." Italy said walking up and whispering into his brother's ears not exactly wanting the guards to hear.

"They're going to protect the area of Rome where all the government buildings are the heaviest. If we go there, we'll be safe for sure. Besides, we're nations. A bite of scratch shouldn't affect us if it's from them. We're safe. If worst comes to worst, we can just use these guys to escape. No?"

Romano's eyes widened at this idea and the fact that his brother could even think in such a way. Sure, he knew that his brother wasn't fully angelic and as innocent as everyone made him out to be. Still, catching a glimpse of his alternate side was still a rarity even from him. Fear and anger blinded his proper judgement of the situation then but he still wasn't sure about going along. Something in his gut, a very strong feeling, told him not to go. Just like how his nervousness told him something was off this morning. Well, "off" was an understatement.

"I've got your back, and you've got mine. Alrighty?" Italy finished louder pulling on a smile. There, anything could've been said in that short talk. Romano could see reason in going but somehow, he couldn't bring himself to yield. His stubborn and feisty nature was kicking in and this really wasn't the time.

"I can't. Sorry. I can't bring myself to run straight in the direction of _that_."

Italy's smile fell and his expression grew sad. The last thing he wanted was to separate from his brother, but it felt as if those guards would take them by force if they had too.

_If I go, will Romano come too?_

"Sirs, I'm sorry for my brother's attitude. Please give him some time to take everything in and think it through more thoroughly."

"We're sorry Mr. Italy but we're short on time. If you want to come, we can take you. Your brother can stay here if he really wants." The slightly taller of the two men said, glancing over at Romano while speaking and Romano was sure that behind those dark specs, the man was glaring at him.

"I'm not sure if I really want to go then…" Italy began. The shorter one made a small disapproving click of his tongue, clearly frustrated at the Italy's difficulty.

"Italy, we know you want to help out your nation, as much as your brother does. Even if he feels the need to stay back for a while. We'll take you back here once the meeting is done, or bring him to you. It's going to be a quick meeting discussing changed evacuation plans and the safety of the nation. It's quite needed, if we want to pull through this and secure at least some parts of Italy."

"What's the point, it's all over." Romano grumbled in the background as Italy took a deep breath. It'll be alright, he told himself.

_I'll find fratello after. I'm sure they can get us to a safer place. We'll pull through. Veh~ This is all so scary. I just want pasta…_

"My bag is in the car. I'll go get it. But promise me you'll bring my brother over no matter what."

"Hey if I'm going to be dragged to Rome, I might as go pack my bags now!"

"Sorry, but time's up. We leave now." One of the men said to Romano whilst checking his wrist watch and guiding his brother out the door.

"Keep a radio with you and start packing now. We could come back at any time."

This wasn't right. Why would they leave him? The situation was dire but were those resurrected progressing that fast? If so, then Romano surely couldn't let his younger brother go. But it was too late. The men had already left with his brother, closing the door behind him. There really was only one way to go about things then. Romano was seriously considering going back to sleep. Still in some delusion that this was all a bad dream. Halfway up the stairs, just as the sun was peaking over the horizon, there a shrill beep that rang through the house. Romano knew what that noise meant. Power outage. Just to be sure, he walked over to a switch and played with it.

_Yep. The power was ou-_

Romano froze mid-step. Power outage. Of all times, a power outage now? In the current situation, wouldn't that mean? Romano could hear the voices coming from outside. People asking one another what was going on. Of course, it was still early. The entirety of Italy went to sleep last night, oblivious to what would happen today. Even Romano didn't know. He downright refused to go to any of the meetings within the last week, not even bothering to ask his brother what happened afterwards. America said he had it under control? Typical of that arrogant man.

"I wonder what's happening in North America?" Romano thought aloud but the pondering would have to wait. Screams broke from outside, screams of terror and agony intermingled. Suddenly Romano was warped back some minutes ago to when he was sitting in front of the television. Still in shock at what was happening outside the confines of his home. Running upstairs, Romano peered out one of the front windows.

"No. Oh…no. This-this isn't. This isn't possible." He muttered under his breath. Scrambling for that handheld radio that he kept in his bedroom, occasionally listening to it, Romano turned it on and scrolled to the nearest channel.

"Updates: The invasion has spread to neighborhoods and cities bordering the south of Rome."

Of course…What delusion had Romano been living in, thinking that the invasion was only coming from the North side of Italy?

* * *

**There you go! Once again sorry for the delay and grammatical errors. I don't know the customs for National Evacuation in Italy. I don't even know what it is for my country. Well I have a faint idea from watching that Vsauce video I didn't really bother finding. Hope you enjoyed! Review! **

**~Summer Anima **


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